Views of the Green-Wood Cemetery War Monument, ca. 1869.
With the end of the Civil War, there was a movement to reserve a place for those who died on the Union side. By 1866, there was an effort to reserve space for U.S. casualties of the Civil War in Green-Wood, along with the re-internment of Mexican War casualties buried in the cemetery. This need for a Civil War memorial is understandable given the “monument mania” that swept the U.S. in the decades after the Civil War with an increased demand for commemorative sculptures that fulfilled civic and emotional needs (Richman, ed., 2013, page 123). A Civil War Monument would be built in the cemetery in 1869 (Richman, ed., 2013, page 91). This monument would consist of a granite column thirty-five feet in height, surrounded by four zinc statues that each represented a major division of the U.S. Army: the engineers, artillery, cavalry, and infantry; which was decorated with a capital of acanthus leaves and plaques and trophy reliefs made of bronze (Richman, ed., 2013, pages 123-124). The Green-Wood Cemetery had now become a resting place for the fallen soldiers of America’s wars.
Item #30: J. A. Perry to the Honorable John Brice, President of the Board of Alderman, Regarding the Soldiers’ Monument at the Green-Wood Cemetery, March 14, 1866
This letter was written by J. A. Perry, the Comptroller of the Green-Wood Cemetery, about a monument in the Green-Wood Cemetery to those that died in the Civil War. In the letter, Mr. Perry mentions that an appropriate spot for this monument will be a lot the cemetery set aside in May of 1862 for burials of New York State Civil War dead. Also, Mr. Perry notes that the cemetery has the graves of ten officers of the New York Regiment of Volunteers killed in the Mexican War (with painted markers at their graves), and asks if it would be advisable to transfer these remains to the site of the monument and devote part of it to the commemoration of their services. This document is important because it shows the Green-Wood Cemetery is responding to the casualties of the Civil War, and helps to document the earliest war grave in the Green-Wood Cemetery: for soldiers who died in the Mexican War. The City Council had requested land in the cemetery in 1862, where the Trustees of the cemetery would sell one hundred burial lots for soldiers for soldiers who had died, or may in the future die, during the Civil War (Cleaveland, 1866, pages 98-99). The Board of Trustees declined to bargain with the Alderman on this proposal, but they eventually adopted a resolution on May 28, 1862: “Resolved, That the Comptroller be authorized to appropriate ground without charge, for the internment of all the soldiers of this STATE who shall have fallen in battle, or shall have died from sickness incurred while on duty during the war” (Cleaveland, 1866, page 98). A tract of land was set aside for this purpose located in Sections 103 and 115 of the cemetery, with room for expansion if needed, and a flagstaff was planned to be erected at this location in the mid-1860s (Cleaveland, 1866, page 98). By 1866, there were several officers and soldiers buried at this location, as well as in several other locations throughout the cemetery (Cleaveland, 1866, pages 98-99).
This letter was written by J. A. Perry, the Comptroller of the Green-Wood Cemetery, about a monument in the Green-Wood Cemetery to those that died in the Civil War. In the letter, Mr. Perry mentions that an appropriate spot for this monument will be a lot the cemetery set aside in May of 1862 for burials of New York State Civil War dead. Also, Mr. Perry notes that the cemetery has the graves of ten officers of the New York Regiment of Volunteers killed in the Mexican War (with painted markers at their graves), and asks if it would be advisable to transfer these remains to the site of the monument and devote part of it to the commemoration of their services. This document is important because it shows the Green-Wood Cemetery is responding to the casualties of the Civil War, and helps to document the earliest war grave in the Green-Wood Cemetery: for soldiers who died in the Mexican War. The City Council had requested land in the cemetery in 1862, where the Trustees of the cemetery would sell one hundred burial lots for soldiers for soldiers who had died, or may in the future die, during the Civil War (Cleaveland, 1866, pages 98-99). The Board of Trustees declined to bargain with the Alderman on this proposal, but they eventually adopted a resolution on May 28, 1862: “Resolved, That the Comptroller be authorized to appropriate ground without charge, for the internment of all the soldiers of this STATE who shall have fallen in battle, or shall have died from sickness incurred while on duty during the war” (Cleaveland, 1866, page 98). A tract of land was set aside for this purpose located in Sections 103 and 115 of the cemetery, with room for expansion if needed, and a flagstaff was planned to be erected at this location in the mid-1860s (Cleaveland, 1866, page 98). By 1866, there were several officers and soldiers buried at this location, as well as in several other locations throughout the cemetery (Cleaveland, 1866, pages 98-99).
Typed transcript of Item #30:
Copy of letter to
Hon. John Brice,
Presi[den]t of Board of Alderman,
14 March, 1866,
Re Soldiers’ Monument
3
Office of the Green-Wood Cemetery.
No. 30 Broadway
New York 14 March 1866
Hon. John Brice,
President of the Board of Aldermen,
Sir,
The verbal application which has been made to this Institution for a site upon whom the Common Council of this City desire to erect a Monument commemorative of the Soldiers from this City who have fallen in battle in the late war, was submitted to the Board of Trustees at their meeting held this day.
They very promptly and cheerfully adopted the following resolutions.
Resolved that a site for a monument to be erected by the Hon. the Common Council of the City of New York in memory of the Soldiers from this City who have fallen in battle, be granted, free of charge.
Resolved that the comptroller be authorized to carry the foregoing resolution into effect and that he transmit to the Honorable the Common Council an account of these proceedings.
In communicating these resolutions, I beg leave to suggest that an appropriate site for the proposed monument is the Plot set apart by the Trustees of this Institution in May 1862 for the internment of the Soldiers of this State who had fallen or might fall victims in the War then raging. The bones of many of our brave soldiers lie there and it has now become a hallowed spot. On the summit of the mound where they are buried, space for a large monument has been reserved.
From this elevated position the monument would be visible at a great distance in every direction. It is conveniently approached from the main entrance of the Cemetery and seems on every account well adapted to the purpose desired by the City authorities.
I think it opportune to state that the remains of the officers of the Regiments of N. Y. Volunteers who fell in battle in Mexico are buried in Green-Wood in ground donated for that purpose by the Board of Trustees. These remains were brought from Mexico by a Commission appointed for that purpose by the Hon. the Common Council of the City of New York and were interred in Green-Wood with imposing funeral ceremonies under the exclusive direction of the Common Council, no memorial marks the spot where they lie, save a painted board at the head of each grave simply stating the names of those deposited beneath.
Would it not be advisable to transfer these remains to the place which shall be determined as the site for the proposed monument and devote a portion of the monument to a commemoration of their names and services.
I am very Respectfully,
Your ob’[edient] Serv’[an]t,
J. A. Perry
Comptroller.
Copy of letter to
Hon. John Brice,
Presi[den]t of Board of Alderman,
14 March, 1866,
Re Soldiers’ Monument
3
Office of the Green-Wood Cemetery.
No. 30 Broadway
New York 14 March 1866
Hon. John Brice,
President of the Board of Aldermen,
Sir,
The verbal application which has been made to this Institution for a site upon whom the Common Council of this City desire to erect a Monument commemorative of the Soldiers from this City who have fallen in battle in the late war, was submitted to the Board of Trustees at their meeting held this day.
They very promptly and cheerfully adopted the following resolutions.
Resolved that a site for a monument to be erected by the Hon. the Common Council of the City of New York in memory of the Soldiers from this City who have fallen in battle, be granted, free of charge.
Resolved that the comptroller be authorized to carry the foregoing resolution into effect and that he transmit to the Honorable the Common Council an account of these proceedings.
In communicating these resolutions, I beg leave to suggest that an appropriate site for the proposed monument is the Plot set apart by the Trustees of this Institution in May 1862 for the internment of the Soldiers of this State who had fallen or might fall victims in the War then raging. The bones of many of our brave soldiers lie there and it has now become a hallowed spot. On the summit of the mound where they are buried, space for a large monument has been reserved.
From this elevated position the monument would be visible at a great distance in every direction. It is conveniently approached from the main entrance of the Cemetery and seems on every account well adapted to the purpose desired by the City authorities.
I think it opportune to state that the remains of the officers of the Regiments of N. Y. Volunteers who fell in battle in Mexico are buried in Green-Wood in ground donated for that purpose by the Board of Trustees. These remains were brought from Mexico by a Commission appointed for that purpose by the Hon. the Common Council of the City of New York and were interred in Green-Wood with imposing funeral ceremonies under the exclusive direction of the Common Council, no memorial marks the spot where they lie, save a painted board at the head of each grave simply stating the names of those deposited beneath.
Would it not be advisable to transfer these remains to the place which shall be determined as the site for the proposed monument and devote a portion of the monument to a commemoration of their names and services.
I am very Respectfully,
Your ob’[edient] Serv’[an]t,
J. A. Perry
Comptroller.